3051 Media Coverage

Media about the campaign for a reasonable Woolworths development in 3051. If you find any media not featured on this site please send it to our campaign 3051 – Integrated .

13 FEB

A little bit of hope that common sense will prevail, here is VCATs rejection of a bid for what residents would call “over development on Johnson St City of Yarra. Well done VCAT, well done City of Yarra well done citizens its our city.

RAID 3051 has received a response from the City of Melbourne Planning Committee to our submission to the Draft Arden MaCauley Structure Plan.

We note with dismay that our strongly worded contention that the maximum height in the Structure Plan are be reduced to 20 meters has not even been mentioned in the Comments section of the response. This should be added into the record of comments made.

We also note that the height limits now come with a discretionary + 30%. This is totally unacceptable to RAID. Guidelines and height limits need to be mandated and adhered to or they are not limits at all but merely suggestions. Future developers will include the 33% as a starting point. Areas with a limit of 20 metes will be 20 meters plus 30%. etc. and then they will push for extra height at VCAT- a limit should be mandatory, with little or no wriggle room!

Further, RAID requests that height limits in the Draft Arden MaCauley Structure Plan area be reduced to a maximum of 20 meters, with a maximum of 14 meters to the Woolworths site where it abuts Canning street and Vaughan Terrace, with 20 metes to the centre of the site.

We will be putting our point of view at tomorrows Future Melbourne planning meeting. We trust that we can rely on your support in this matter.

Best Regards,

Peter Hogg
Chair

Tower proposal raises ire of football club, residents

Miki Perkins

The Age October 4, 2011

Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy.

NORTH Melbourne Football Club has written to Planning Minister Matthew Guy to express concern about supermarket giant Woolworths’ plan to build a major development with two residential towers – one 16 storeys high – in North Melbourne.

North Melbourne chief executive officer Eugene Arocca said the suburb had a ”certain flavour” and a 16-storey tower ”immediately strikes one as being out of kilter”.

North Melbourne was a football club that took its representation of the community seriously and there was widespread concern about the height and size of the Canning Street proposal, Mr Arocca said.

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The development would have 304 apartments and a 4350-square-metre Woolworths supermarket as well as 300 parking spaces for residents and 340 spaces for retail parking.

It would have two residential towers – one at 10 storeys high and the other at 16 storeys.

The final decision rests with Mr Guy because the development is larger than 25,000 square metres, with the Melbourne City Council asked by the minister for its opinion. The council is in the process of developing an over-arching ”strategic statement” to guide planning within its boundaries, and has developed a draft plan for North Melbourne as part of this.

The draft came under fire when it was released for proposing a high-density residential hub of six to nine storeys in Arden Street, but with a final version not yet released residents fear the Woolworths proposal will set an even greater height precedent.

The developer’s proposal notes that it is located within an area that is earmarked for urban regeneration, and makes multiple references to the council’s strategic plan.

North Melbourne resident Peter Hogg, who is a member of Residents About Integrated Development, said that while the group supported urban consolidation, the Woolworths proposal was ”too big by half”.

”The council has negotiated with the community over several years now about this structure plan and – whatever its shortcomings – this development just sidelined all this work and set the precedent for what happens in this area. They’ve just taken the ball and are running with it,” Mr Hogg said.

Councillor Cathy Oke said she had not yet decided how she would vote, but she was unhappy about the proposal’s height and its implications for the council’s structure plan.

Council staff are preparing a report on the proposal for a planning committee meeting on November 8, when residents will be able to air their views.

The department, under delegation from the Minister for Planning, has requested that Woolworths give notice of the proposal by displaying signs on the site and writing to adjacent landowners.

During this 14-day period any person who may be affected may lodge an objection or submission to the Minister for Planning.

Woolworths was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.

North Melbourne supermarket plan not so super, say residents

BY CHRIS HINGSTON CHINGSTON@FAIRFAXMEDIA.COM.AU

27 Sep, 2011 04:00 AM

A MAJOR North Melbourne development proposed by supermarket giant Woolworths must be scaled down, residents say.

The proposed Canning Street development would have two residential towers constructed 10- and 16-storeys high, as well as a retail precinct including a Woolworths supermarket.

More than 80 people attended a meeting held by new group Residents About Integrated Development to discuss concerns last week.

The development would house 500–600 people in 304 apartments and include 341 car parks for the supermarket and 304 for residents. Retail outlets and a liquor outlet with opening hours of 6am to midnight are also proposed.

RAID spokesman Peter Hogg said residents were worried about the size of the development and the effect it would have on the area, such as on traffic management.

“We understand there is a need for more housing in the city … urban consolidation is broadly a good thing, but it has got to be done right,” he said.

He said the development pre-empted a draft Melbourne City Council structure plan for the area recommending a development height limit of nine levels.

As the Canning Street development is greater than 25,000 square metres it will be considered by Planning Minister Matthew Guy, with Melbourne City Council taking a referral role.

Woolworths spokesman Simon Berger said the development would help revitalise North Melbourne. It would also generate more than 200 new jobs in retail as well as about 460 construction jobs, he said.

Department of Planning and Community Development spokeswoman Kirsten Howe confirmed the Canning Street development was now being assessed by the State Department.

The Planning Minister had already sought comment from the City of Melbourne, she said.

MCC Future Melbourne Committee Planning chair councillor Ken Ong will host a meeting with residents who have made a submission on the development next week.